When discussing this film with other film buffs, they keep mentioning the "most" brilliant scene, the nude scene with Alan Bates and Oliver Reed. I agree it's brilliant and exotic, but there are others that are beautiful, graceful and unforgettable: 1) Jennie Linden's nude scene with Alan Bates, circling gracefully around one another in a field while a beautiful score of music plays in the background. 2) Jackson's dance and graceful movement while reaching for a tree branch and slowly descending to the ground and back again, while Linden sings "Pretty Bubbles". 3) Linden's reconciliation with Bates starting with "See what a flower I found you?" 4) Jackson's gorgeous elongated eyes behind a veil putting on a costume in Switzerland while having an affair and Stravinsky plays in the background.

No matter how many times I see this film, I find new beautiful discoveries. I pledge people to give this one a chance and I promise it will be worth while and rewarding.


Possibly Russell's most enduring work....   March 9, 2000
Jeff. (Guam)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

This has to be one of the most memorable treatments of Lawrence's work.

The film explores all three relationship possibilites (male-female, male-male, and female-female) revealing the true underlying drives of each sex. The performances of *all* cast in this film are exemplary. Not only do Bates, Reed, and Jackson turn in unforgettable performances, but other characters (Jennie Linden as Ursula, Vladek Sheybal, Eleanor Bron, to name a few) are inspired to excel equally.

Really this is a film which will haunt and force you to view it many many times. Each time you view it you will find more depth and more of Lawrence's insight into the life force behind men and women.

This is not a film for the faint-hearted, or for casual viewing. It is a heavy hitter.


A beautiful film   April 21, 2001
Sarah_Aliza (New England, United States)
19 out of 21 found this review helpful

Can you really do better that Alan Bates AND Oliver Reed? I love everthing about this movie. It is filmed so beautifully and Glenda Jackson's performance gives me the chills. Many people know about this film because of its treament of sexuality, but it is not raunchy or tasteless, it is perfect. This is one of my favorite movies to curl up and watch on a rainy afternoon. I suppose it is dated, but give it a chance and as crazy as it sounds, you too will start to fall in love.


Key to Lawrence   October 8, 2005
Billyjack D'Urberville (USA)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

This is a necessary film to getting a handle on D.H. Lawrence, a writer much more discussed than understood. Director Russell properly finds his key and turns it relentlessly: the art deco aesthetic, both formal and almost too self-consciously daring, which prevailed in Europe between World War I and Wold War II. It never took total flight and is easily parodied; it is thought of today mainly as a style of decorating furniture or buildings. It had a short life and was obliterated since the second war; Lawrence was quite up to his neck in it, and its strangeness throws people off who plunge into his works looking for the sexual liberator. That is all there, all right, but in his time the chick was still largely imprisoned in the egg, so to speak, of late 19th century Victorian aesthetics too.

Simply, it was a transitional period, and can be a little edgy. Russell is not afraid of it at all and has the guts to drink his Lawrence straight. So you get marvelous visual emblems wide open to parody or ridicule in lesser hands, stunningly presented: the dead couple like a bas relief sculpture on the floor of the drained pond; the naked male wrestlers curling into each other in a dark room, their forms outlined by dim light. Like it or not this was what was beautiful in Lawrence and the film pays it due homage without being subservient; Russell gets in his licks too. The aesthetic was so self-conscious that it can be delightfully hoisted up the flag-pole for a laugh, too, as in the wicked scene of Hermione and her parlor dancers.

There is no need to summarize the story of the two sets of lovers; just see it. The major actors have never been better. They become the complex characters, who while not totally explained are something better: totally present and alive. They pick up a big slice of the private and public aura of the period in their wake. Also, the film has the most incredible punch line at the end which Russell just perfectly transmits.